Time To Make The Call

There are certain times of the year that bring into relevance how quickly time flies and how a year, which seemed to last so long when we were children, tends to shorten as we grow older.

My daughter just turned four this past week. For us in our 40s, a year goes by so much more quickly than when we took in everything as kids. My daughter said, "Daddy I was three for so long." Whereas to me, it seems like yesterday I was helping the nurse put sensors on my daughter's chest to ensure her heartbeat was regular after walking her from the delivery room. A former tennis partner once said to me years are simply shorter as you get older. She was right.

Years are marked in different ways: Holiday songs started to be played on the piano in our household around the 10th of December... Strawberries and cream in late June for Wimbledon weekends on the television... unpack the football or rugby ball in early September for those crips Autumn weekends.

But there is one, absolute moment, when I know summer is just around the corner. I am sure it is the same for many people who visit the islands in the summer months. It's the phone call to or website visit to The Steamship Authority - the company that ferries the throngs, the workers, the visitors and the islanders to Nantucket and Martha's Vineyard.

Three days in the truck ready to load on to the ferry.

There is a sense of calm when I look at the schedule and see four boats debarking from Woods Hole to Vineyard Haven four months away. There's always a bit of trepidation that all the ferries are going to be sold out, but somehow, even when sold out, there's a way those ferries fit most of the "standby" line alongside a truck or deep in the corner of the vessel.

I park my truck on the deck, stretch my legs after the three-day drive from Florida, go upstairs and grab a beer and head outside onto the passenger deck to watch the Vineyard appear over the horizon. Yes, that rock - it's still there a year later.

For years, I visited Nantucket. All through my post-college years, I rented a house on Surfside Beach in early September, after the throngs had departed back to their suburban homes. Nantucket felt more real at this time. Albeit having been there on July 4th to mark our country's birthday is a great day on the island, I prefer the quieter times on the island where I have unrestricted access to all of Nantucket's natural assets and beauty.

The same holds true for Martha's Vineyard. I arrive there in early June to "set up shop" and unpack for the three months during which I call the island home. Restauranters are remodelling for the season, white lines on tennis courts are being laid out, and there's only one boat working the three car ferry to Chappaquiddick - The Chappy Ferry. I have time to meet people and enter into real conversations in comparison to during the season when I gasp for air and collapse into my apartment at 7.30 to cook and sleep. So early June is the time to rest up, enjoy and relax with the possibility of experiencing all that such a wonderful, special island has to offer.

I've arrived.

It's a strange feeling indeed. When I turned my back on the Vineyard last September and boarded my ferry home, I couldn't wait to get onto the mainland. But now, I am looking back ready to get on that spit of sand once again and enjoy the summer months with friends and acquaintances I have made. It's like the conversation never ended and the 9 months on the mainland were simply a blink of an eye. How time flies as we get older.

I have new tennis drills and ideas ready for the season, goals set in terms of work and finance, but that seems to take a back seat to the evenings bicycling past the gorgeous homes with the warm, amber lights radiating out onto the cobbled streets.

And, unfortunately, the time flies by and before I know it, it's Labor Day. I'll be ready for the migration South, but will know this feeling will be around faster than my daughter's birthday in February.


Yep... back to the website. I think I'll go on the 10.45 from Woods Hole which gets me into Vineyard Haven for 11.30. Get some time to visit The Black Dog before I head over to Edgartown to let the summer begin.